Martian Mongol Heleer [FREE]

Heleer, grandson of a hundred khans and son of the first Martian-born bagatur , sat cross-legged before the low table. His face was a map of old Earth and new sky: high cheekbones from the steppes of Mongolia, eyes the color of hematite from a lifetime filtering thin air. He held a morin khuur —a horse-head fiddle. But its neck was carved from the titanium strut of a crashed Russian lander, and its strings were drawn from the memory wire of a dead rover.

He raised his bow. The riders behind him raised theirs. The takhi stamped, eager. martian mongol heleer

Heleer had been seventeen. He had killed his first man with an arrow through the visor. The man had been from Texas. He had died saying something about his daughter’s birthday. Heleer remembered that. Heleer, grandson of a hundred khans and son